


Kyle’s Change

by tshmarie



Series: Changes [3]
Category: Mercy Thompson Series - Patricia Briggs
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Gay Relationship, Established Relationship, M/M, Possible Character Death, Post-Canon, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23983801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tshmarie/pseuds/tshmarie
Summary: I ain’t never changed anyone into a werewolf before. Obviously. If I had, I wouldn’t be alive still. That was the rule. That was the way things worked. A wolf who attacked a human was dangerous and wild. A wolf who attacked a human didn’t get to live.— —Kyle attempts the Change.You need to at least read Warren’s Request before this.TW: In Mercyverse, the change is violent and dangerous. That part is in it’s own chapter and has more specific warnings in the notes.
Relationships: Kyle Brooks/Warren Smith
Series: Changes [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1718647
Comments: 9
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

“Here.” Mercy slid a cookie across the counter to me.

“Thanks. How do you think it’s going?”

“No idea.” She hopped onto the counter. “You probably have a better idea than I do. I’ve never gotten his ‘these are the rules you must obey to belong to my pack’ lecture.”

I snorted. Mercy would’ve run screaming if Adam had pulled that on her. “That’s not the same as ... trying to scare someone out of going through the change.”

“I don’t think that’s what he’s doing.” She didn’t. I could smell it was the truth.

“What do you think he’s doing then?”

“What he said, making sure this is what Kyle wants, and that he knows what he’s getting himself into.”

“None of us knew what we were getting ourselves into.”

“No. But Kyle has lived with you, and the pack, for a few years now. He’s seen the ugly side that we try to keep hidden. I think he understands better than most people who decide to go through the change.”

I let that sit for a minute while I took a few bites of the cookie. My next question came out very softly. “Do you think it was wrong of me to ask him?”

She was quiet for a minute, seeming to consider my words. She took a deep breath before answering. “I am afraid of losing both of you the way I lost my foster parents. But this is your decision. You deserve to be happy, Warren. You deserve the chance to keep him.”

“Thanks.”

We are a few more cookies in silence. I tried not to look at the clock and figure out how long Kyle and Adam had been locked in Adam’s soundproof office. Adam had asked me one question in private: Are you sure you want to risk this? I was afraid to lose him, but my decision was made. Adam accepted that answer and then asked me to wait with Mercy. We decided to make cookies to keep our minds off of their conversation. Mercy was pulling the fourth tray out of the oven when we heard the door open.

“Warren, would you join us?”

I looked at Mercy. She squeezed my hand and gave me a nod of encouragement.

* * *

Adam stood in the doorway waiting for me. He let me pass before closing it and gesturing for me to take the empty seat. Kyle was sitting in the other chair. His posture didn’t give anything away, but I knew him well enough to read that he was tired.

“I don’t think either of you know this, but Bran has a whole process for people who want to become werewolves. He requires them to interview at least five wolves, fill out an application, and then he interviews each of them personally. I’m not Bran, though, and I don’t currently answer to him. The final decision is mine, and I admit I am impressed by the thought and care you both put into this request. You have been a benefit to this pack since you accepted us, Kyle. You have been a strength to Warren the entire time you’ve been together, and I worry what losing you would do to him. And to us.” He took a grounding breath, and I braced myself for what was coming. “This decision is on me. The consequences, whatever they are, whatever the outcome, are on my head. I want you both to understand that.”

“Yessir.”

Kyle nodded and Adam waited until he echoed my answer.

“I have long wondered what kind of wolf you would be, where you would fall in the hierarchy, how it would affect the pack dynamics to have both of you as full members. I think it’s time to find out. Kyle Brooks, I approve your request to become a werewolf and a member of the Columbia Basin Pack.”


	2. Chapter 2

A few days after the full moon, I pulled up in front of Adam’s house and turned off my truck. There was a bag in the back with several days of clothes for both of us. We’d emptied the fridge of anything that might spoil. Kyle had resisted the urge to wrap up all his cases as he had for our wedding. He didn’t want the world knowing what he was doing. Even if he did, the change was one of our carefully guarded secrets still. If it worked, I would call his office in the morning to tell them he’d been in a bad car accident and was in the hospital. If it didn’t work ... A couple weeks ago, Kyle had insisted on updating his will to leave everything to me. He said he’d been planning to for a while; he wanted to make sure I was taken care of after he was gone. I didn’t want it, but he said I could give most of it to the pack. He’d also given me a “last request:” he didn’t want me to give up if this didn’t work; he wanted me to keep going; he claimed the pack still needed me.

Last night had been our just-in-case goodbye. Neither of us slept much. We made love, and held each other, and shared whispered “I love you”s and all the little “I just want you to know”s. We both cried and held each other. We kissed every inch of each other’s bodies, trying to memorize every scent and taste and texture of the other’s skin. Eventually we did fall asleep, wrapped in each other’s arms.

And now we were here. Everything was settled and prepared. Everything was said. I looked over at my mate and husband. He took my hand. We shared one more kiss.

“I’m ready, baby.”

“I know.” I took a breath. “Me too.”

Inside, Adam gave us one more chance to change our minds. We didn’t.

Most of the pack was waiting. They offered silent nods and hands of encouragement before separating to create a perimeter. They were there for support, but also to keep the silence. We didn’t want the neighbors to hear Kyle screaming. I almost wished it would work on me.

In the backyard, I stripped and called my wolf. The hardest and easiest part of planning this was knowing that my wolf wouldn’t allow anyone else, not even Adam, to touch his mate. Luckily, Adam and Kyle trusted my control.

Kyle (naked except for a pair of boxers), Mercy, and Honey were already sitting together on the grass when I shook off the tingles from my change. Adam was standing nearby, and I could sense the others in a loose circle around us. I walked past Adam, brushing against him. I nuzzled Mercy and then Honey. I leaned into Kyle for a moment. He scratched my side and kissed my neck. When I licked his face, he chuckled.

“Can’t wait to get a taste of me, can you?”

I huffed in amusement then looked at Adam. He nodded, and I felt his alpha-ness roll off him towards the pack. A moment later, a familiar magical weight settled around us.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: this is the Change. If you know the Mercyverse, you should have a pretty good idea what’s coming. If that bother’s you, don’t read it. If you‘re a little curious, there’s a brief summary in the end notes.

I ain’t never changed anyone into a werewolf before. Obviously. If I had, I wouldn’t be alive still. That was the rule. That was the way things worked. A wolf who attacked a human was dangerous and wild. A wolf who attacked a human didn’t get to live.

_ Not attack. Change. Keep. Claim. _

My wolf don’t exactly use words, but his opinion on the matter was clear. This wasn’t wild or violent. This was necessary to keep our mate alive and with us. I decided to trust him.

Adam has never changed anyone before, either. But he has been present at Bran’s ceremonies, so he knew the process. Mercy has heard Bran talk about it, but this was the first time she’s been allowed to participate (Adam was hesitant, but Kyle and I both wanted her, so he conceded). Between them, I knew I needed to get as much wolf spit into his bloodstream as possible before he died. I needed to drool into his arteries without him bleeding out. No wonder this usually failed.

I started with an arm. I licked it once, then closed my teeth around it. Kyle grunted as his skin broke, reflexively pulling away, but I kept my grip. The taste of his blood reminded me of the time the pack had been kidnapped. Someone had hurt him then. He was  _ mine  _ and someone had hurt him. Filled with a sudden need to fix it, I licked his wound as though I could stop the bleeding with my tongue. Kyle’s blood didn’t make me hungry; it made me sad.

I made myself move to his other arm. He tensed as soon as I touched it. His whole body spasmed when I bit down, and I felt his skin tear rather than pop. As I let myself slobber into these new wounds, Kyle’s breathing was becoming ragged and I tasted sweat beading on his skin.

His heart was racing as I moved to his stomach. The wolf that turned me had actually eaten most of my guts. And I knew stomach wounds bleed out very slowly. Getting shot or stabbed in the gut is a very slow way to die. So I sunk my teeth into the soft flesh around Kyle’s belly button. His back arched off the ground. He screamed. I smelled a new salt-water, not the heavy salt of sweat, but the clean, light scent of tears.

I looked up at him. He had a death grip on Mercy and Honey, who were talking to him softly. Mercy had moved one hand to his hair and was stroking his head. His face was scrunched in pain. And he was crying. His face was streaked with tears.

I looked down at the holes I had put in his beautiful flawless skin, at his blood streaming out into the grass. If I stopped now, he might survive. We could get him to an emergency room, sew up the damage I’d done. Maybe ...

“Warren.” Honey said softly.

I turned to her.

“You have to finish.”

I whined. I licked his stomach a few more times, then moved up to lick his arms again. Then I licked his cheek. He gasped and looked at me. His breathing had slowed some. I brushed his cheek with my muzzle.

“I ... I ...”

I could almost hear him considering “I’m ok,” or “I can do this” before whispering,

“I made my decision.”

I nodded and moved to his legs. He was getting tired. I could see it. I could  _ feel _ it. I bit into the soft flesh of his leg and got kneed weakly in the head. The motion tore his leg out of my grip and left him with long gashes across his thigh. I felt myself whimper as I hurried to catch the gushing blood. I licked at it, tried to make my mouth salivate. I could feel his pulse slowing. I heard his heart stutter, and felt mine break. I was torn between continuing to “clean” the slices in his leg and howling in agony that I might lose him.

“That's enough.” Adam ordered.

I didn’t need it. It was a relief to flop beside him and settle my head on his chest. I reached for him through the bond we shared. It never gave me anything beyond a faint awareness that he existed, but without my voice it was all I had.

_ Please stay. Please. Don’t leave me. Fight it. Please. Stay with me. _

Mercy placed the hand she was holding on my neck. She kept talking to him as she had since we started. Telling him he could do it, urging him to hang on.

Honey was crying. She managed a few “It’s ok”s, but her voice was rough and broken.

Adam knelt at Kyle’s head and set a hand in his hair. “Kyle, fight this. You may not be mine yet, but you will be and we need you.”

His words carried the full weight of his Alpha authority, but Kyle’s heart continued to stutter, his breathing continued to slow.

And then I felt it.

There was a stirring, like a soft breeze made of moonlight. And it came from Kyle.

I looked up at Adam.

“That felt like pack magic.” Mercy said softly.

“It was the change. It worked.” He looked at me. “It worked.”

I sat up and watched the holes in Kyle’s arms close, and then his stomach, and then the ugly gash in his leg, the skin sealing as though it had never been touched. His heartbeat stabilized, back to its familiar, strong, rhythm. And his scent changed. It’s still said  _ Kyle _ , but now it whispered  _ werewolf _ as well.

I threw my head back and howled. I was answered by the circle of human wolves around us.

There was a soft cough. “Did it work?”

I looked down into Kyle’s tired but focused eyes.

“Yes, wolf. You are one of us now.”

He closed his eyes and swallowed. “I feel like that time in college. I got a flu from my study partner and didn’t eat for three days.”

“The change takes a lot out of you. Come on.” Adam stood and helped the girls pull Kyle to his feet. “Let’s get you fed and then to bed.”

It said something to how tired Kyle was that he didn’t turn that into an innuendo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warren is nervios, but his wolf is confident that this is the only way to keep their mate. He tries to be gentle, but that’s kinda impossible. He almost gives up, not wanting to hurt his mate, but Honey encourages him to finish. Kyle ‘dies’ momentarily, and then they fill the stirring of magic as the Change takes hold.  
> Kyle wakes up. They take him inside to eat and get some sleep.


	4. Epilogue

A few days later, I stood beside Adam as we claimed Kyle as pack. He said the words Zack whispered to him solemnly. He pulled a face at the thought of eating Adam’s flesh, just as he had when we told him about it, but he swallowed the piece without question. Zack braced him as the pain hit and pack magic bound him to us. Once he’d recovered, Adam took him by the shoulders and turned him to face the pack.

“My children,” he announced, “I give you Kyle Brooks, our newest member.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, they’re married and Kyle is a werewolf. Yay!  
> I have ideas for one more fic: a series of scenes as Kyle gets used to being a wolf and learns his place in the pack, but I need help! :)  
> Obviously, we have to see Kyle’s first full moon a couple weeks, but what else? What would you like to see? Any ideas? They can be silly, intense, touching, ... Let me know.  
> Thank you!


End file.
